Dance School Quandry.
Glort
Registered Users Posts: 1,015 Major grins
When covering a recent event a teacher from a school came and tentatively booked us for photo's and Video of her school later in the year.
I thought this was a set thing but today i had a chat with her and I'm not real sure how to best handle what she wants.
Basically at this stage she wants me to do " action" shots of the dress rehearsal. She has asked me about doing the DVD but is also talking to another company as well. I haven't done Video for years but just got back into it so I'm not sure I will be able to win out over an established crew but that's a secondary concern at this stage.
The thing with the Photos is she wants me to do the action shots at the dress rehearsal and has organised a Photo day with another shooter she used once before to do the " Studio" type pics 2 days later.
before I knew this I said I would bring my studio setup and shoot the " Formals" of the kids after the rehearsal.
The reason the other company aren't doing both shoots is that they don't do action shots apparently.
She has balked at this saying many of the mothers are new and she doesn't want kids out getting pics when they should be rehearsing. I said that was no prob, I could shoot fast so when the kids were done or had a good break till their next routine I'd shoot them then. She didn't take to this idea citing that she wanted the parents to see what goes on for the whole show so they knew what they had to do and help with the kids etc.
She is planning the rehersal from 4-9pm and there are only 70 kids in the school in total.
The upshot of this is likley to be she will have 3 different companies involved, one doing studio setup type pics, one doing action and someone else doing the DVD.
I sense opportunity here but also that I have to be careful not to alienate her and get nothing. I'm not at all sure how well I'll do from the action shots alone when competing with the studio type pics but I'm in a good position to get both next year ( She said she only wants to use one co next year but doesn't want to cancel the people she has already booked this year) so have to be diplomatic.
I'd be real happy to shoot studio pics at the rehearsal which is 2 days before the actual photo day and see how I go or better still come up with a compelling reason for her to cancel the other people.
I'm intending to take my v stations and sell on the day I shoot as well as provide proof sheets ( or god forbid, online ordering) later.
I was thinking of getting back to the teacher and trying to convince her to let us do studio formal shots so we could offer the parents price competitive packages ( with the DVD) and see if that would change her mind. This is the teachers first year out on her own so she is not particularly sure of how to do this and i think she has booked the other shooters before realizing they couldn't do all she wants.
Any suggestions as to any creative and profitable approaches to take?
I thought this was a set thing but today i had a chat with her and I'm not real sure how to best handle what she wants.
Basically at this stage she wants me to do " action" shots of the dress rehearsal. She has asked me about doing the DVD but is also talking to another company as well. I haven't done Video for years but just got back into it so I'm not sure I will be able to win out over an established crew but that's a secondary concern at this stage.
The thing with the Photos is she wants me to do the action shots at the dress rehearsal and has organised a Photo day with another shooter she used once before to do the " Studio" type pics 2 days later.
before I knew this I said I would bring my studio setup and shoot the " Formals" of the kids after the rehearsal.
The reason the other company aren't doing both shoots is that they don't do action shots apparently.
She has balked at this saying many of the mothers are new and she doesn't want kids out getting pics when they should be rehearsing. I said that was no prob, I could shoot fast so when the kids were done or had a good break till their next routine I'd shoot them then. She didn't take to this idea citing that she wanted the parents to see what goes on for the whole show so they knew what they had to do and help with the kids etc.
She is planning the rehersal from 4-9pm and there are only 70 kids in the school in total.
The upshot of this is likley to be she will have 3 different companies involved, one doing studio setup type pics, one doing action and someone else doing the DVD.
I sense opportunity here but also that I have to be careful not to alienate her and get nothing. I'm not at all sure how well I'll do from the action shots alone when competing with the studio type pics but I'm in a good position to get both next year ( She said she only wants to use one co next year but doesn't want to cancel the people she has already booked this year) so have to be diplomatic.
I'd be real happy to shoot studio pics at the rehearsal which is 2 days before the actual photo day and see how I go or better still come up with a compelling reason for her to cancel the other people.
I'm intending to take my v stations and sell on the day I shoot as well as provide proof sheets ( or god forbid, online ordering) later.
I was thinking of getting back to the teacher and trying to convince her to let us do studio formal shots so we could offer the parents price competitive packages ( with the DVD) and see if that would change her mind. This is the teachers first year out on her own so she is not particularly sure of how to do this and i think she has booked the other shooters before realizing they couldn't do all she wants.
Any suggestions as to any creative and profitable approaches to take?
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Comments
Listen to your client! She has already booked the studio photographer. If she were to cancel after booking because she found someone else, (for whatever reason), she would do the same to you. She is acting ethically.
I am curious about how you are being paid. Is the school paying you, or is it on spec? Does she know you offer the images for sale on site not on a website. Is the school expecting copies of all the images?
This is your opportunity to show her your the easiest, and best photographer to work with. Win, loose or draw, that can't hurt you. Being over aggressive and or pushy will only make her uncomfortable and less inclined to view you as a solution.
Sam
True.
But I also like to be pro-active and not let opportunities pass me by.
It's a fine balance between this and pushy but what I am trying to think of here is a creative way for everyone to win.
Sometimes that requires a bit of outside the box thinking instead of just sitting on your hands.
Payment will be on spec, I'll do packages for the prints and pre sell the Vid If I get the nod for that. Client has agreed to a 30 copy Min order.
We have discussed selling the prints onsite which she loves the idea of and I also said I would provide a proof book and orderforms.
No expectations of all the images although I might provide a poster or something similar to hang in the studio.
Is the proof book and order forms for the day of the recital?
Not sure how many pics as yet. As many winners as I can get really. The more you have to offer the more they have to buy.
I'll be putting the pics on the Vstations on the day and produce the proof books afterward and take or send them to the teacher.
At this stage I'm thinking of trying to win the extra business by offering a package on the pics and Vid. If I can come in under the competitors pricing on a package, it should help. She seems pretty price conscious.
I think a bit of marketing creativity is the way to go and make an offer that benefits her students and I'm trying to think of something that will also be of benefit to her.
So you plan to do video even though someone else is hired to do video, and you plan to charge just a bit below the hired videographer. I don't think you will make any friends doing this, and you may loose the respect as well. I know I wouldnt appreciate this.
No, that's not the plan or what has been organised.
The studio photographer has been booked, I have been booked to do the concert shots and the Video work is still up for grabs.
What I'm hoping to do is give the the teacher some more incentive to book me to do the vid over the other people that are Vying for the Video coverage which has not been booked as yet.
I would not think of doing the Vid over the top of someone whom had been booked, it would make no sense to do so. How would I sell or distribute them for a start?
Business that is up for grabs is a different issue however and I enjoy the chase of winning the business and making the most of my limited skills in this area. I have found its usually not the photography per se that wins the gig, but the way you market and go after the work.
Just an FYI - Most any dance teacher will avoid scheduling any formal photos the day of a rehearsal. Trying to keep 70 kids focused & out of trouble for 5 hours is not an easy task, especially when they are excited & putting on costumes & makeup & getting ready to perform, in addition to the teacher/director having to organize & train volunteers on what to do & when so the show can go off without a hitch. It doesn't matter how many breaks they have or how fast you can shoot them, it's simply too hectic backstage - this is fairly universal for rehearsals. Just wanted to help you understand where the teacher is coming from & why she balked at your suggestion. This could be a deal breaker for the teacher.
A photograph is an artistic expression of life, captured one moment at a time . . .
http://bartlettphotoart.smugmug.com/
I figured Id put in a kids picture into the magazine cover template and show that to each parent, it might entice them to buy one. I figured $60 for a basic one and $100 for a more advanced one would be a good price, hopefully the $60 isnt to much for them to go for it. Basic means the picture goes behind the text. advanced means the text goes behind the head or arm or what ever is in the way. I did one the other day of pompoms and it took forever.
Im also going to create some animoto slide shows to leave running on a 2nd laptop while the parents are there looking at the first one. Hopefully it will get them interested. I wish animoto had a better uploading tool that confirms each pic was uploaded correctly.
Messing with what she already has set up for this year will jeapardize that.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21695902@N06/
http://500px.com/Shockey
alloutdoor.smugmug.com
http://aoboudoirboise.smugmug.com/
I think you have a great idea with the pre made mag covers.
Nothing like showing them what it will look like instead of trying to let them imagine it.
I think this will certainly help sales along.
I made up an action in PS for when I do golf events. I hit a button and the pic is re-sized, adjusted in levels, contrast ect and inserted. The action pauses so I can reposition the image or any wording if needed ( which usually isn't with a bit of careful shooting) and then another hit of the F key finishes it off and spits it out the printer. You could just put a stop before the print action if you only want to show on screen but I'd be real inclined to print them out and show the finished product.
Your probably going to cover the cost of 30 prints with one sale and you'd have to be doing something real wrong to get that low a take up rate when it's right there ready to take home with them.
I have done this with golf and other events such as balls and dinner dances and it's always worked great. I just lay the prints out on a table ( take your own lights if your in a dark location) and sell them from there.
The sales are high and the leftovers are low.
The first time I did it was an unusual setup where as the client wanted all the ateendees prints to be printed and available but didn't actually want to pay for them. As i was covering a multiday conference, we did a deal whereby they agreed to cover my time in shooting the dinner and my expenses in printing all the pics with the provision that i could sell them and keep whatever i made.
THAT was a very profitable event let me tell you!
Since then I have always printed all the pics out and it's always a winner and where you can get groups, you always sell the multiple prints.
With the PS action I can knock these things out in literally 30 sec on the editing and with printer pooling a couple of machines, the output is about the same.
I would strongly consider pre printing the covers, I think you may be pleasantly surprised at the results.
How does $60 for a mag compare to other shooters in your area?
I charge $35 for my mag covers and although I don't get any opposition to it, I'm wondering if that is normal or would be high in your market as it would be mine?
Pretty much everyone here is within $5 of each other on a given print size which I think is good but I'm wondering if I could bump my prices without loosing out on overall profits?
With everyone else as I say being pretty close in pricing, I'm not sure I would get away with it.
I know one competitor tried selling A4's for $50 a couple of months ago at a big event and was then later complaining to the organisers he sold 4 pics all weekend. I now his work and he is well known so i have no doubt the problem was 100% his price increase.
A mag cover though may allow me to get away with it.
I'm not trying to put you off your pricing, just interested in the difference between yours and mine.
If my wife ever came home and showed me a mag cover she paid $60-$100 for, I would have gone through the roof! That was my first reaction. Even before I was able to make my own... and I do have a daughter in a sport where I am used to dropping lots of $$$ for everything..
I charge $30 for my custom mag covers and only $20 for the generic styles. I priced mine so that I feel compensated for the amount of time I put into the template and to cover my printing costs.
Ive already printed up the price sheets and shown the parents, but I could offer a "sale" to reduce the cover expense.
I hate the idea of pre printing, especially on my home printer, but it might be worth it. I wonder if sams club uses heavier paper than what i got. I got a 100 sheet pack of paper from costco in Canada like 8 years ago, its been sealed so its not aged. I would hae to get busy tonight to get all the pictures processed and put into a cover to have them ready for next Monday, even then it may not arrive in time.
I'm doing a state Level equine event this weekend that is 6 hours away from home.
Unfortunately the number of competitors that actually entered are about half what I expected so I thought I'd better try something a bit creative in the marketing Dept.
I revised my CD pricing as they go well and we don't have any price complaints. The new structure will be:
1-5 images on Disk $50
6-10 $75
11+ $100
I was going to call the 11+ Disk "Unlimited" but there was a disagreement with the other members of the board of management who claimed that this would entice people to go crazy and order heaps. I said they could only order what was there and being that it was one competitor only per disk, if we got $100 from each I'd be happy to shoot as many pics as they wanted.
But of course we all know what the wife wants she gets and as I don't think what we call the coverage is important, We'll run with 11+ Instead of unlimited.
She did come up with one great package with disk and prints that my son and I loved! It worked out to $165 value and she was going to charge them only $200 for it!
Great deal for us but the customers may have different ideas. I was more than willing to go with that package though as I said to my son, "If your mother can sell some people on that particular deal, I'm coming back and buying a real estate office and we are going to make some real money. "
I can hear it now.... "Normally this property is worth $500K but if you buy now, you can get it for only $750K, and.... we'll chuck in a new pool worth $30K for FREE! ".
Imagine the benefits to me... "Hello, Canon distributors? Yes, I'd like to order one of every lens in your catalog thanks. And can you get them here by Friday next week, thats when Nikon is delivering all their lenses and I want to do a comparison over the weekend".
We have also come up with some packages to try and get the average sale value up a bit. Given that costs are low, I think we can afford to give a little away to gain a lot more.
We have come up with a $75, $100 and going for broke... $200 coverage which includes... Well, everything really!
Many of the competitors will be traveling from interstate and have small fortunes tied up in all this so may as well give those that still have some money left a way to rectify that situation and elevate my own meager finances in the process.
I have my young fella enthused about this event.... He's the computer jockey and does all the downloading, making the albums for the vstations and the printing and burning of the disks. He's on a promise of a new Plasma TV with the takings from the gig so I'm sue that will minimize complaints and goofing off and maximize enthusiasm. Still can't get him excited enough to actually get behind a camera but I'll take whatever improvement in attitude I can get.
My daughter is mad keen on taking pics and on occasion, she gets one that we are able to offer for sale. :cry
Best for the moment I keep her doing what she excels best at... Running cards back and forth, fetching drinks and eats and showing people how to use the V stations.
I put about 150 sheets of paper in the trailer to take with us and topped up the CISS. My wife got a bit annoyed and said I needed to take more paper and extra ink. I pointed out that this much paper worked out to more than 1 print per kid attending. At our lowest rate, it would be about $4500 in sales PLUS the Disks which are always about half of our orders.
Unfazed, she then asked how many disks I had packed and got a bit annoyed when I said 50 and made comment that if we ran out, there wouldn't be anywhere around where we were going to buy more.
She still wasn't impressed when I said we could always post them out after the event.
She's certainly expecting to make a lot more out of this gig than I am but I sure hope she get to rub my nose in her being right and me being wrong!
:ivar
I'm doing the provincial dressage finals this week-end. I also came up with an "end of season" special. Since I'm still alone I can't do the on-site printing etc. so I'm offering a $50 pre-book special, $30 of which is a credit toward whatever print(s) the client orders. I'm also offering a $60 on-site show portrait special: since horse and rider are already spiffed up for the show, I'll do a 1/2-hour photo shoot in the scenic park behind the show centre, provide low res images for their use on Facebook or whatever, and the $30 credit toward any print(s) ordered.
Let's compare notes next week
http://www.imagesbyceci.com
http://www.facebook.com/ImagesByCeci
Picadilly, NB, Canada
Hey Snow,
The idea of the onsite portraits sounds very interesting.
Have you tried this before and if so, how did it go?
As I'll be staying onsite for this event ( If I actually decide to go in the morning after i check the weather forecast again) i would have the opportunity to do a couple of these.
Might have to print a few Signs to put up around the place and see what happens.
I don't usually do magazine covers for horse events. BUT, I do offer collages and the price varies by size from $100 for an 8x12 (these puppies take a LOT of editing time) to as much as $500 for a 20 x 30, in canvas, mounted and ready to hang.
http://www.imagesbyceci.com
http://www.facebook.com/ImagesByCeci
Picadilly, NB, Canada
Nope, this is new for me. I've already got 3 pre-booked for this week-end and, since they pay up-front and only get the $30 credit if they purchase prints, I can't really lose. Basically, that $30 would give them an 8 x 10 or 8 x 12 plus a 5x7 and I'm still getting my $20 for a 1/2 hour time into the shoot. These involve minimal editing. And, whichever ones they choose to print, I'll provide low res digital versions for them for facebook etc.
Obviously I'm hoping that some of them will go for bigger and better things - like larger prints, or fancier finishes (e.g. canvass) or even a collage - either on paper or canvass. I did a small collage for a client last year and they went NUTS about it - just loved it.
Anyway, I'll check back in on Monday and let you know how I fared. Good luck with yours!
http://www.imagesbyceci.com
http://www.facebook.com/ImagesByCeci
Picadilly, NB, Canada
Sometimes you get these feelings..... You push them aside when you should listen to your gut instinct.
I didn't really feel like going to this event, I even told the family that I had a bad feeling, lets just stay home.
We should have.
I'm back home, a day early, not one picture sold.
After struggling through the traffic as a couple of hundred thousand people decided to go to our biggest Motor Race, the Bathurst 1000, we got to the venue in only 7.5 hours. For a trip that should take 4, maybe 5 with the trailer.
With just enough time to get setup before dark, as I'm asking around to find my contact, I spot another photographers van and signs up at the place that I was told would be where I was.
Finding my contact I ask what's going on and they say, your the only one supposed to be here, they must have just shown up, we'll move them on. about 15 min later they come back and tell me that someone else organized them and there is nothing they can do to move them on.
Terrific.
I'm not going home so where do I set up?
I'm shown a spot which is fine, start to set up and some woman appears telling me I can't set up there..... yada yada.
My contact re-appears, someone else is fetched, discussion follows and a determination is made if i move about 10 ft back, everyone is happy.
Sweet.
Just get the tent up and the trailer unpacked and another woman appears telling me I can't take photos, I'm not the official photographer. I say I am actually, and she says, no, we are.
I explain the situation and she storms off saying this is unacceptable which I fully agree with.
5 min later yet someone else appears in my face, this time a large bloke asking me what i think I'm doing. I refrain from the bleeding obvious answer and tell him I have been talking to the event secretary for 6 months and get here to find this lady thinks shes the shooter as did I and whom might you be,. He's the club president and he was the one that booked the other people.
Then He tells me I can't set up there, I'll be in the way. I tell him I have spoken to all these people, had a pow wow and was told I was fine there.
Loosing my patience with the situation I tell him, I have just driven 7.5 hours and so far, everything about this event I have seen is an unprofessional circus and he better go get ALL the people together and work something out real quick so the left hand starts talking to the right.
I keep setting up my tent as it's now well dark, I'm at a country racecourse 40K from anywhere and this is where im digging in for the night at least.
A bit later other shooter woman comes back and tells me they have F%#*d up and it seems none of the organizers have bothered to talk to each other.
They have traveled just as long as I have and also have time and money tied up in the gig so looks like we are both there.
I Wasn't too worried because they are a pretty small setup compared to me with very limited and basic offerings. They are cheaper than me so I'll loose some sales but we'll dig in deep and get something for our time.
Morning comes, we are out at the rings shooting dressage with the almost comedical situation of the other shooter photographing the exact same thing I am from the other side of the rider who id 40ft in front and 15 ft to the side of us.
During the break the other guy and I chat and he's certainly a personable enough fella and so is his wife. We have all been mucked around through no fault of our own.
Then the fun starts. the skies go grey, and the wind starts howling. The kids are trying to put the sides back on the tent with the v stations and attach our signs to something they won't blow off. after getting that sorted, I tell my Son about Snows Idea and tell him to print some samples using some shots I did at our very first event of a girl and her horse.
The riding will be over by about @:30 for the day so great opportunity to make this one work.
Then my son can't get the printers to work. He spends some time on them and then gets me to come have a go.
After 90 min, I conclude that both printers that have been working fine have spat the big one.
Perfect!
By this stage it's lunch time and I call a committee meeting.
Do we stay or do we call it quits, cut our losses, come back home grab a printer and go do a local event i have an open invitation to cover.
None of us want to go and admit defeat. I try to ring an office supply place in the main town about 50 Km away but we are too far out for phone reception. I go see if there is a public phone somewhere and ask someone and tell them whom I want to ring and am told that they would be closed an hour ago.... They don't keep the same hours in the country as the city.
3 of us are still weighing up the odds when daughter comes back and announces that there is rain and wind storms predicted for that night and next day.
That's it' time to admit defeat and call it quits.
If we were there on out own we would have stayed but given the situation that we now can't compete with what a lot of people will want, that I'm not prepared or equipped to shoot in the rain not fond of having the computers out in it, we go find our contacts, whom seem passingly sympathetic, maybe, and pack up.
I go have a chat to the other shooter whom is far more apologetic than the organizers and we get on well although hope to meet under different circumstances next time.
On the way home the car is totally gutless and can barley manage to get up hills so the trip is very slow. I make it up the very steep mountain range in second gear and let the thing walk up with the overloaded trailer and we get there a bit slowly but surely.
Coming down the mountain something occurs to me in that the cabin heater is not working and the engine must be low on water. It sure is!
I put about half the capacity in the radiator.
the thing then goes like a train. Obviously the problem was it was overheating for the last 400KM.
Got to love Diesels.
Peddle the thing the rest of the way home at the freeway speed limit, or above, and all is fine getting home.
I ring a contact with the other event and she says sure, come on out, there are only 39 Riders but you know you don't have to ask.
What I ask myself is if 39 riders are worth getting out of bed for but decide better to get something back on the weekend than nothing.
I then look at the weather, more rain and winds predicted here on the coast blowing inland where we were.
Some days, your luck just ain't in.
Ill be sitting in front of the TV all day tomorrow watching the car race.
Always have every year since I was a kid.
Maybe it's karma that this was the way it was supposed to be Cause every other Damn thing I tried hasn't worked out!!!!
I certainly hope yours goes better Snow!
Glort that is some story....if it is any concellation I am sorta in the same situation. I had a horse show set up for this weekend. I dont really think there was going to be that many people there and my assistant who prints on site for me quit this week. I hated to do it but I decided it was probaly best to reorganize a bit and try to get an assistant for next weeks barrel race instead. (Which will have a better turnout!)
On another note, with your CIS do you have to suck the air out of the lines every time you transport it like i do?
www.jonbakerphotography.com
Aslthough we ar also "enjoying" (not) brisk winds and cold fall temperatures, the UP side is that, in addition to my pre-booked shoots, I've picked up three extra ones so far. My packages seem to be working. Yay!
http://www.imagesbyceci.com
http://www.facebook.com/ImagesByCeci
Picadilly, NB, Canada
Often it gets a bit of air in the lines.
Mine has a wheel which you can slide down and clamps the lines to turn the inl off.
I think the air comes from the top of the tanks ( which are never Full) and the motion of traveling lets the air go up and the ink dribble down.
It's never a problem, just run a couple of clean cycles and it's all good.
What does happen is someone forgets to turn the ink back on again and then the thing stops printing as I think it creates a vac in the thanks but once you turn it on and run a clean cycle again it's all good.
I'll have to ring up tomorrow and see what they charge to even look at these printers. I can buy new replacements for a couple of hundred $$ or less so I think the repair cost and the replacement cost will be too close to worry about.
Hey Snow,
Go get them mate!
I can see the idea has plenty of merit and would work well. It would have where I was because there were so many location that would have been great. Old broken down stables, beautiful green paddocks and bush... I even thought of near a camp fire which there were lots of.
Now it's one man down, you need to do extra well to make up the numbers for the shooters so book another 10 for good measure.
Sorry your weekend turned so non-productive; the stuff memories are made of and while memories don't pay the bills, 90% of the good things in life, including memories, are a result of turning up. Your post will stay in my memory until the onset of dementia.
You guys know I am not a pro-photographer but I am a pro-marketeer. As a marketing man, I like Snow's idea. It often strikes me as strange that pro-photographers do not make more of the opportunity to address a captive audience. The portrait of myself and my wife that hangs on our wall was taken by a pro-photographer at someone else's wedding. I tipped the guy a tiny amount to go off-piste for a few minutes and shoot ourselves and a few close friends I had not seen for many years; likely we are never together again in our wedding-best. I know they treasure these "stolen" photos too.
Rain at an event is an opportunity. People are happy to step into a dry warm tent, enjoy a warm coffee, and have the photos taken that they have been wanting.
Random sunday morning thoughts. Thanks again, Glort.
Hey! Very successful weekend. I'm going to be busy editing for the next several days! People kept coming up and asking for extra shoots. LOVED IT! Had a ball but I doubt my feet will ever recover
When my online gallery of proofs rare ready, I will email the link to the clients, along with a coupon for a surprise discount on the prints they order.
Plus, I got invited to be the official photographer at a new show for next season.
We are done with the horse shows for this year. And, I've also picked up some additional portrait work. Yay!
http://www.imagesbyceci.com
http://www.facebook.com/ImagesByCeci
Picadilly, NB, Canada
Thanks for enduring it.
I was thought i was ranting too much but in the absence of a shrink, posting here was the next best therapy.
I agree with your comment about legal rights. I think they get taken way too far too often and 90% of comments may be ok in theory but in practice I find them silly.
Ya know, the funny thing, I was sitting here last night going through the pics i took and I was smiling and happy.
Yeah, it was a total stuff up and lost me money and was stressful as well. Maybe I'm just a sick puppy but somehow It's something I'll look back on as not all bad either. It was the first time the kids have been camping and in parts there was some fun to it. When the pressure and stress is off things look different.
The shots I did were some of my best ever of Dressage somewhat to my surprise so I'll put them online and who knows, I might make a sale and then I can say it wasn't a total disaster.
And would you believe it, One of my printers has come good again!
Not sure if I'm happy about that or not.
I did nothing to it, just plugged it in to see if I could diagnose the problem and there wasn't one!
I think I would have preferred the thing stayed broken.
Haven looked at the other one yet. Definitely hoping that one is broken even if it does cost me money.
It's worth it not to have to explain to the tribe they are all fine.
I am constantly amazed at how most shooters are so naive to marketing, promotion and sales. I go on and on about marketing and I think a lot of people here think I'm a loon about it but I just can't understand many of the things that are asked here that are so simple and basic.
The "How much do I charge" questions just floor me.
Nopw talking of marketing, your idea of coffee just hit me like a thunderbolt.... for a second.
Firstly if I did that there would be WWIII with the clubs whom usually run the canteen as a fundraiser. That said, there is one plce we go to where they have a private vendor whom is a real Ars*whole and i'd gladly offer people a free coffee just to repay him some of the good spirit he HASN"T shown me,
BUT, I think I'd be overrun with people coming in for free coffee and it would probably get spilt all over the vstations and take on of my staff to keep up with filling urns etc.
I'll keep the idea in mind though, it could have great potential.
Thank You!